Statement to the 37th Human Rights Council - Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

United Nations Human Rights Council

37th session (26 February - 23 March 2018)

Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and with the Special
Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

Statement delivered by the World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Mr. President,

OMCT welcomes the focus of the reports to the Council by Special
Rapporteurs Nils Melzer and Michel Forst.

In a context where migrants are increasingly exposed to the risk of human
rights violations including torture and ill-treatment, both in their countries
of origin and of transit and destination, we express our serious concern over
States’ trend to engage in migration control policies and international
migration agreements - such as the ones between the EU and Turkey or Libya - which undermine or actively disregard the
absolute prohibition of torture and the non-refoulement principle.

We are also alarmed by the growing tendency of States to resort to
deprivation of liberty of migrants as a routine or mandatory practice, and stand by Mr. Melzer’s view that such practices all
too often fall short of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, in
particular when involving survivors of torture, children and persons in need of
international protection.

Mr. Melzer, what measures should be taken to ensure that governments refrain
from such agreements with other States or non-State actors and that do not circumvent their own international
obligations to exercise due
diligence to prevent and protect migrants from torture at the hands of private
actors? Could you further comment on the threshold to establish State
responsibility for complicity in torture or other ill-treatment against
refugees and migrants?

Mr. Forst, OMCT is also worried by the increased repression and
stigmatisation of defenders of the rights of people on the move in a number of
countries, such as in Mexico, Greece, Spain and France, as
well as byrestrictive laws that
seriously impact such efforts by civil society, as for example in Hungary.

As stressed in your report, defenders themselves can become
people on the move when they are forced to flee their country due to threats. What
measures should be taken to guarantee that defenders can continue their
activities while in exile, so that States do not succeed in silencing their
voices and the ones of victims?

OMCT strongly supports the
recommendations of Mr. Forst’s mission report
on Mexico and calls on his mandate to engage with the Mexican authorities for
their effective implementation, and to urge them to repeal the Law on Internal Security, which would create additional
risks for defenders in the country.

We further echo Mr. Melzer’s serious concerns in his mission report over
the rising allegations of torture and other ill-treatment since the failed coup
attempt of July 2016 in Turkey. Could you confirm whether a follow-up visit has already been
scheduled? Given the widespread repression against defenders, has a joint mission with Mr. Forst been
considered? It is particularly crucial to continue raising concerns over the
dangers of a permanent state of emergency in order to prevent emergency
measures that create an environment conductive to torture and impunity from
being enshrined into ordinary law.

Finally, OMCT recalls, drawing on Mr. Melzer’s report on extra-custodial
use of force presented to the General Assembly, that individuals cannot lose
their protection against torture and ill-treatment in the context of protests,
and urge those states were excessive use of force to disperse peaceful protests
has been documented, such as the DRC,
Togo, Sudan, Spain or Honduras, to uphold the prohibition of torture and
carry out prompt and effective investigations.